Acee: Chargers need to find that ending feeling again

San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers celebrates a 52-yard game-winning field goal giving the Chargers a 27-24 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in an NFL football game Sunday Dec. 20, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers celebrates a 52-yard game-winning field goal giving the Chargers a 27-24 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in an NFL football game Sunday Dec. 20, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Overcome with nostalgia for the days when Philip Rivers was made of steel and the offensive line was made up of proven veterans, I gave young UT Chargers beat writer Michael Gehlken a lesson in ancient history on Monday afternoon.

Fortunately for us, there exist recordings of the 2009 season.

I showed the eager young man what a fourth-quarter scoring drive looked like.

His eyes grew wide as we watched Rivers stand confidently in the pocket, directing two-minute drills orchestrated by Norv Turner. Passes were completed to heroes of old with names like Jackson and Sproles, as well as those that live on, Gates and Floyd.

Yes, Michael, it can happen.

Turner remembers. He, in fact, keeps talking as if those days still exist, expressing confidence in his team if the game is close in the fourth quarter.

I mean, that’s part of his job. But I don’t see the veracity in his optimism.

Turner said in his postgame press conference Sunday night that the Chargers will be an “outstanding” team. He said it emphatically.

He also went around the locker room repeating that assurance to players.

And maybe they will be. There were signs in New Orleans that the Chargers can be a contender -- right up until the Saints scored 17 unanswered points and the Chargers’ final three possessions, in the fourth quarter, netted nothing.

Ryan Mathews possesses all the talent that’s been advertised -- and maybe more. Hey, Robert Meachem can catch. I love John Pagano’s channeling of Wade Phillips, and I know his players do too.

But it’s going to be difficult to be a team that matters if they can’t convert at the end of games.

It seems like forever since the Chargers did so in a truly impressive manner, coming through when the game was in doubt with time running out.

Since the start of the 2010 season, the Chargers have won just two games in which they trailed in the fourth quarter. Both of those victories, one in 2010 and one in ’11, were ultimately earned by scoring with more than five minutes remaining.

Four times in both the 2010 and 2011 seasons, the Chargers had a chance to win or tie with a game-ending drive. They lost all eight games.

That they missed the playoffs by one game each of those seasons should make the importance of such finishes self-evident.

So should their success in such games during Philip Rivers’ first four seasons.

The 13 game-winning, fourth-quarter drives Rivers directed between 2006 and 2009 – playoff seasons, all -- tied Brett Favre for the most in NFL history through the first 70 starts of a career (regular and postseason). In ’09, Rivers directed four such drives, including two come-from-behind marches to touchdowns in the final minute and another drive to a tiebreaking field goal in the final few seconds.

The Chargers were 8-1 in games decided by eight or fewer points in 2009, the last year they made the postseason.

Playoff teams in 2010 and ’11 had a combined .656 winning percentage in one-score games. Non-playoff teams had a combined .408 winning percentage in those games. The Chargers’ .375 mark is worse even than the average non-playoff team.

I don’t see the same Rivers in the decisive times. Of course, he doesn’t see the same protection or the same targets he enjoyed way back when.

Turner says the offense, with its many new and revolving parts, is coming around. It better be coming so far as to make it all the way to the fourth quarter soon.

We saw in 2009 what victories like that do for a team. It makes them believe they're never out of a game.

Conversely, while they won’t ever admit it, falling short again and again at the end grows on itself too, making memories fade along with playoff chances.